The Swahili Coast Cooperative believes in cooperative ownership to create a lasting impact on development from the ground up.
Our guiding principle is the principle of cooperativity. We believe through working together as partners in fair trade, we can create a future for ourselves that puts the challenges of development in our hands. We strive for worker ownership to ensure that we own the profits of our labor - and we are working hard to promote our craft and future.
Worker Owned
We believe that as talented artisans, we deserve to own the fruits of our labor. Our cooperative is 100 % worker owned by active members. Workers that participate in the co-op own the share of profits that they contribute to over the course of each month.
Worker Managed
Our co-operative elects a board of directors annually to manage the co-operative affairs. Our management team is beholden to the co-operative members and board of directors, and management must respect the worker co-op structure and worker needs.
Worker Financed
Our cooperative members own shares in the growth of our company, and are responsible for continuing to keep the cooperative capitalized.
Empowering Women
80 percent of our co-op members are women. We prioritize working with women artisans because we believe that women are agents for change and progress here in Tanzania. We care for our families, we send our children to school, and we work hard for our communities, culture, and country.
Fair Wages & Profit Sharing
Our Coop pays fair wages, and pays out our monthly profits back to our workers at the end of each month. We are our own boss and we do not work for anyone but ourselves.
Safe Work Environments
We work together to create a safe environment where all of our workers have access to safe, clean drinking water and a work environment that is free from harm.
